How to grow Radish in Containers

Every gardener’s dream is to sow a seed and wait for a bountiful harvest. The joy is more if the vegetable is quick yielding. Quick yielding veggies are a boon to an impatient gardener. Radish is one of those veggies that gets ready for harvest in no time. There are varieties that is ready to be picked in just a month. Can you believe it?

Another best part is, Radishes can be grown in containers very well. Different shapes and sizes make it a must try for any one who wishes to grow veggies. Most of us are familiar with the radish that is long white. What about Red round , long pink or white round ?

Before we get to the growing part, little bit of information about Radish itself. Did you know? Radish belongs to the same family as Cabbage, Cauliflower, Mustard and Turnip. You can easily identify them with the shape of their cotyledons.

If you are a first time gardener who wants to try something quick, Radish is the answer.

Now to the growing part.

Radish needs a fertile, loose and well drained soil. Potting medium made of equal quantities of Red soil, cocopeat and well decomposed manure is essential. Ensure the manure is well decomposed. Since Radish is a quick crop, it is necessary that we use a good potting medium to begin with.

In this post, I am going to post pictures of Long white radish and French breakfast radish growing in container.

For growing long radish, take a container that is at least 1 foot deep and for French breakfast radish any tray that is 6 inches deep will do.

Pictured below is a week old Radish (French Breakfast) seedlings. I have sown two per hole and later I will thin them to just one. Radish seeds can be sown 1/2 inch deep and they germinate in 3 days. Radish seeds are sometimes used to mark the places where other seeds such as carrots are sown.

Day – 7

The long white ones can be sown in dust bin pots or paint buckets(20l).

Approx 3 weeks old Radish plants. This is long white growing in buckets filled with red soil, cocopeat and manure. Plants are thinned to provide 2 inch spacing between plants.

If you are growing them organically, well decomposed vermi-compost can be added after a week.

If adding artificial fertilizer is ok, then a weekly dose of 19:19:19 (at 2-3g/litre) would give a good boost.

Radish French breakfast – 21 days after sowing

One month old plants.

Look closely, you can find well formed radishes.(one month old)

These radishes can be harvested when they are a month old. If you want bigger ones, leave them for another 10 days but not more than that. If you delay harvesting, the radish will get starchy(with hollow core) and will not be good. I started harvesting one or two everyday.You can also take few leaves for your consumption as they grow, but leave some for the plant as well. Leaves of white radishes are little smooth and those of red(european/french) will have tiny spines).

exactly 40 days later,

Check out the white radishes after 40 days.

Harvests!

Beans, Radish and Okra from the garden. This one was a huge radish grown in 8L dustbin container.

Radish leaves are also edible.

The veggie on the extreme left is not radish. It is Turnip. I will write another post on growing turnips.

Pests:

Ah! Pests. How can they be forgotten. Flea beetles are quite common with radish. Since it flies and hops around, spraying neem will not help. One can cover the crop with a mosquito net or insect proof net. That is very effective. Don’t over crow the crop.

Flowers and Seeds:

Radish when left to grow, will send out a flower stalk and start flowering to produce seeds. Radish flowers are very beautiful and sprinkles color in your garden.

Where there is a flower, there is a seed as well right? The best part is, the seed pod is also edible. Taste the seed pod and it will taste the same like radish. Awesome isn’t it? Let the seed pod dry and there you have seeds for the next season.

Radish seeds are available in most of the seed shops. I have the following varieties for sale.

Red round – Radish scarlet globe.

Red Elongated – Radish French Breakfast ( Red radish with white tip).

Long white – Radish Mino Early ( 30cm long Japanese white Radish)

Long Pink

Contact me using the contact form if you need any of the above varieties.

Finally I was able to finish this post. Hopefully it wont be too long before another post.

GG

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39 Comments

Pattu
on November 8, 2010 at 10:37 pm

Hi GG,

I want to say excitedly that I too had similar harvest !! ( Kindly see my blog at http://gardenerat60.wordpress.com But sadly, my plants did not look so perfect :-). My turnips turned out very good, and I fould it was easy to grow too..

The photographs are very nice, and you have a good crop. do you intend mailing the seeds. to outstation too?

hi gg, i found your blog through fenugreeklove. i love reading your posts and am so inspired by your gardening skills and produce. i saw your tomatoes post and PLENTY is THE word for sure. my tomato plant has started to flower since 2 weeks ago but i’ve not seen any sign of fruits yet :(. any tips on how to encourage fruit growth? 🙂

Thanks for stopping by. Tomato plants need good amount of potassium and calcium for fruit growth. Water it with water soluble fertilizer( good if you have tomato specific fertilizer). It will encourage fruit growth. Is it getting good sunlight?
GG

Hello GG
Contrats on the new site and all. Been waiting for you settle with all the transition work. With radish post I guess you are back with a bang. Thank you for adding the forum so that people who need help can finally get some answers that is in the indian context. I am looking for the cucumber seeds that you had posted some months ago and also the cherry tomatoes. I tried to contact namdhari seeds but no luck. if you do order please let me know.
once again happy gardening and thank you for all that you are doing.
Madhavu

Hello GG,
I visited you blog for the first time. I too am a passionate gardener from bangalore(far now in balcony) and visiting your blog was liberating. I mostly do flower gardening and am already enthused to experiment with vegetables too with your blog’s help. Pls suggest a good potting mix (coco-peat compost or whatever ideal) for flowers. Please write a blog on how you prepare your container (bottom) and then fill it for beginners like me.
I have a planter box in my balcony and I’ve planted roses and some climbers. the medium is just red soil and I put compost occassionally. Is this ok? What do you mean by decomposed vermi-compost? How can we ensure that? Please help.
Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the delay in replying. For growing flowers/ornamentals, you can use regular red soil+cocopeat+compost/manure in equal proportions. I will definitely write a post on potting mix and filling the pot. Thanks for the suggestion.

By well decomposed compost, I meant they should be dark, without any strong smell, and devoid of particles that are not broken apart/decomposed. When decomposition/breakdown of these materials happen, the temperature of the matter increases and there by they can kill the plant roots. Make sure the compost you buy is dark, well powdered and smells not too strong. You can get it from many places in bangalore. Lalbagh is one such place.

You are truly a source of inspiration ! Each time I visit your blog, I learn something new. Need to start putting my pots to good use. Next spring I am definitely growing radish as I love to cook with radish pods.

Hi GG:
This is regarding your reply to Nyonya. What is the best way of providind Calcium to plants? Some say one should add crushed egg shells. I have been using Calcium Nitrate which neccessarily gives Nitrogen also even if not required. Will be grateful for your advice. Thanks & regards.

Hi Satish,
The best way to give Calcium is calcium nitrate. It has calcium in the soluble form and is readily taken up by the plant.
Crushed egg shells have calcium in the insoluble form(mostly carbonates) and take a long time for the calcium to get absorbed. You are on the right track.
Hope this helps.
GG

Hi GG:
Even though I was already using Calcium Nitrate, I am sure your confirmation will make it much more effective on the plants and on my mind too. THANKS for the reassurance. What do I do with all the egg shells that I have been collecting?! Well, I think I will keep them for the lizards even though I am sure you will have some better ideas for this problem too!! Regards.

Hi! I’m glad to have discovered your blog — it’s full of interesting stuff. It’s odd that we in England think of radishes and turnips as being “European”, but they obviously grow really well in your country too. I would like to invite you and your friends to visit my blog to see what sort of things I grow. Some of them would be very familiar to you I think — chillis, tomatoes, cabbage, etc — but maybe you have never seen Asparagus growing? Or Blueberries? Do you have them in India?

Thanks for visiting my blog and I am very sorry for the delay in reply. You are partly right in thinking radishes originated from europe. Actually the round ones originated from europe. Long white ones are from asia. I don’t think asparagus is grown in large scale in india. Same goes for blueberries as well. I love blueberries and would love to grow them any day.
GG

HI GG
You have a very interesting and informative blog. I had very less to do at work today morning so I almost read you entire blog…yes…all posts! at one go. I am thoroughly inspired and I plan to start planting a few veggies after I come back from my year end vacation! I too stay in Bangalore …right now I have very few flowering plants on my terrace which look sad….I have not cared for them well 🙁 I hope I can devote more time to my garden in 2011. Happy new year in advance!

Hi,
I grew French Breakfast radish after your post. It is not yet a month from sowing and my radishes are ready to be harvested.
Thanks a lot for the motivation.
Now for the next step- how much time will be required for the flowers and pods?
I am keen to try the other varieties too after this success.
Chitra

Hey Chitra, That is great. Can I ask where did you buy the seeds from and which brand did you use? My experiments with containers have been not very successful till now in Bangalore so would like to try this fast growing vegetable. 🙂

Hi Sam,
I used seeds from Ratanshi Agro at Mumbai (available all over Mumbai. They do not have any brand on them but i presume they are of French breakfast type going by the pictures on geekgardener’s blog.
They are very easy to grow in containers. I harvested mine in just about a month and used the root as well as the leaves for cooking.
All the best
Chitra

I planted Radish on Sunday. Got 90% germination by Friday. I see that the saplings are growing tall and leaning towards the window. I understand that this is because they want sun. After how many days of germination is it safe to put them in direct sun and for how many hours a day without causing them damage.

If you have germinated them inside then take them out gradually. Radish can handle full sun. Don’t worry. But since you have started them inside bring them out gradually and increasing the duration every day.

Hi
I stay in chennai. Where in chennai we get good organic seeds. I planted radish 20 days back. Only one has germinated. I water them daily. And the pot has good drainage system also. I have made about 1/2 inch holes in the soil ( I am using a bucket) and put 3 to 4 seeds per hole. I do not understand what is the problem. I like to grow few vegetables in my apartment’s balcony.

I discovered your excellent Blog post planting radish seeds in paint bucket. Instead of Two seeds per hole (like you suggested), i placed somewhere around 13 to 14 seeds per hole. The result you can imagine. Almost all of them have germinated in 3 days. Now, Im not sure as how to deal with this situation.

Should I trim them all to one per hole or should I leave them to grow?

Hi, I am planning to grow radish for the first time. I have soil and coco peat. Where can i get decomposed manure? Can u point something on amazon.in please? There’s plenty of manure options there.. dont know which one to choose.
Also, is it necessary to have holes at the bottom of my container, since I am planning to use a bucket.

Been growing my first crop of French Breakfast for about 55 days and they’ve only just passed 15 cm/6.5 inches in height… But only 6mm or 1/4 of an inch thick… Is growing in a pot with plain soil, is watered daily, gets about 8 hours of sun each day. Anything I can do to get them to grow thicker quicker?